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Employer succeeds in an unfair dismissal case where tram driver did not tell doctors of his stroke
Introduction In a recent case in the Fair Work Commission, the Company successfully defended an unfair dismissal case involving the misconduct of an employee by failing to disclose he had suffered a stroke. Commissioner’s reasoning In finding there was a valid reason for the employee’s dismissal, the Commissioner’s reasoning included: There is a National Standard that applies to the Company and the employee as a tram driver. The employee was given training and on two occasions was given an information sheet on the requirements of the National Standard. Accordingly, the employee should have been aware of the requirement to notify the Company of any temporary or ongoing health condition or change in health status that was likely to affect his ability to perform his work safely, and to provide complete and accurate information concerning his medical history to the assessing authorised health professional. Th...
16 November 2022FWC Annual Report 2021-22
The Fair Work Commission’s 2021-22 Annual Report The Fair Work Commission’s 2021-22 Annual Report available here includes several noteworthy points. We have summarised some key points below. During the 2021-22 year: there were 34,122 applications lodged with the FWC including Supported Wage System agreements not previously counted, compared to 29,631 applications in 2020-21. The following graph summarises the types of applications lodged with the FWC: 50% of applications were finalised within 5 weeks of lodgment and 90% were finalised within 13 weeks of lodgment; less than 0.5% of decisions handed down were successfully appealed; and two new jurisdictions were implemented – the expansion of the anti-bullying jurisdiction to include orders to stop sexual harassment and the dealing with disputes relating to casual conversion. The following table provides a comparison between the years 2021-22 and...
28 October 2022Employer’s failed attempt to avoid redundancy pay on grounds of obtaining other acceptable employment for employees
Introduction In an appeal to a Full Bench of the FWC, a labour hire company (the Company) that lost a particular contract and argued it had obtained other acceptable employment for employees with the incoming provider (Programmed) was unsuccessful in having its redundancy pay obligations reduced to nil. Legislation Section 120 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act) provides that on application by an employer the FWC may reduce an employee’s NES redundancy pay entitlement to a specified amount (which may be nil) that the FWC considers appropriate where: an employee has a NES redundancy pay entitlement; and the employer obtains other acceptable employment for the employee (which is what the Company argued in this case) or the employer cannot pay the amount. Case law In the Full Bench decis...
6 October 2022